The scoop on Gelissimo gelato

Graham Joe is truly living the dream. After 20-odd years in IT, he now develops gelato flavours for a living. On the Wellington waterfront, with the sea sparkling outside. You want to hate him, don’t you?

Graham (who is thoroughly lovely; you couldn’t hate him if you tried) got in touch with me a few months back, after he saw my recipe for Speculoos Spread. I’d wondered on Twitter if it would make good icecream material – and he agreed. So that’s how I found myself backstage at Gelissimo yesterday, ‘helping’ him turn the concept into gelato. I’ve never worked so hard in my life. Honestly. You try spending a Sunday afternoon tasting gelato and trying to work out how many de Brood Bakkers Speculaas biscuits to crumble into the mixture. Then imagine you have to sit and eat a tub of it while you and Graham speculate about what else might be a good gelato flavour. I was so exhausted afterwards I had to lie on the sofa when I got home and try to decide whether batch one or batch two was better. (Batch two, in case you were wondering, but I might have to eat all of batch one just to be sure.)

With any luck, you’ll be able to taste it soon at Gelissimo too. Don’t worry if you live too far away, I’ll go and buy some on your behalf. That’s the sort of selfless person I am.

What culinary masterpieces did you create – or eat – over the weekend?